The present invention relates to devices for capturing the swarf or chips produced by drilling operations and more particularly to a removable boot for catching swarf from a hand held electric drill.
Electricians, carpenters and other tradesmen routinely use hand held electric drills to bore holes into building materials. The drilling operation produces swarf, cuttings, dust and debris, which can be a problem. Swarf can be harmful to the tradesman. Swarf can fall into the tradesman's eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hair or clothing when drilling, especially when drilling into ceilings. The creation of loose or flying swat may be unacceptable in some locations, e.g., occupied businesses and homes. And, clean up of drilling swarf is always a time consuming and unpleasant chore.
Various devices for capturing drilling swarf have been devised to meet these problems. One such device is the chip catcher shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,583,821 to Melvin H. Shank. The Shaub chip catcher is adapted to fit onto a hand held electric drill. It comprises a frusta-conical member, a bearing member connected to the small end of the frusta-conical member, and a rubber seal connected to the large end of the frusta-conical member. The frusta-conical member is comprised of an inner spring and an outer plastic cover. The spring supports the plastic cover and functions to press the rubber seal against the surface to be drilled. The bearing member has an inner and outer race portions. The inner portion is sized to fit snugly over and onto the drill chuck. The Shaub chip catcher is used by inserting and tightening a drill bit into the chuck, installing the chip catcher onto the chuck, and commencing drilling operations. When the drill is activated the drill chuck rotates, thereby rotating the inner portion of the bearing. The outer portion of the bearing and the rest of the chip catcher remains stationary. To change bits, the catcher must be removed from the drill to exposed the chuck so that the first bit can be removed and another inserted.
There are a few limitations to prior art chip catchers. Moving parts, like Shaub's bearing member, require maintenance, and can break down. Some prior art chip catchers can be used only on one type of drill. Shaub's chip catcher, for example, has a bearing member with a fixed inner diameter, and accordingly, it will fit only one size drill chuck. Since electric drills come with different size chucks, different sized catchers must be made for each drill chuck diameter. Furthermore, some prior art chip catchers must be removed from the drill to make a bit change. This can be cumbersome and time consuming.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need in the art for a swarf boot that solves these long standing problems.